Review: The Wild Storm #15

I’m
a little more confused than usual, because I missed last issue. But it doesn’t
seem to have made much difference. There’s still an odd little war brewing
between Skywatch and IO, with a fair amount of collateral damage on both sides.
And it’s only now – 15 issues in – that I comfortable saying that
Skywatch are the bad guys. However, “bad” is a relative term. We’re dealing
with clandestine organizations fully committed to their own agenda.

I
won’t deny it’s well written. Were I to see this in a filmed format, I’d
probably enjoy it immensely. But that bothers me, because it reads as if it
were written for film rather than comics, and they are two separate visual
mediums. Each one has its own rules and structure. One does not always easily
translate to the other.

As
a result, we the readers are treated to a rambling, non-sequential storyline.
There are characters I don’t recall seeing before. Perhaps they’ve been
off-stage too long. And those I do recall from several issues ago, I’m wondering what became of them. Those I
recall from more immediate chapters, I’ve forgotten who they are and why
they’re there.

To
their credit, the creative team of Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt are all in. Together,
they have maintained a consistent presentation of the story, strengthening the
structure if not the overall narrative. Perhaps I just need to sit down with a
handful of issues and read them all in a single sitting.